At the National Assembly plenary session on the 4th, opposition parties, including the Democratic Party, passed the ‘Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Law’ (a bill appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the hindrance of the Marine’s death investigation, covering up incidents, etc.).
This marks 37 days since the opposition party’s handling of the Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Law in the 21st National Assembly was invalidated after the exercise of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s veto power on May 28.
Out of 190 lawmakers present at the National Assembly that day, the bill passed with 189 in favor and 1 against. While most members of the People Power Party opposed the special prosecutor law and left, only opposition parties such as the Democratic Party (170 seats), the Innovation Party of Justice (12 seats), Reforms New Party (3 seats), and Progressive Party (3 seats) participated in the vote. However, Kim Jae-seop of the People Power Party joined the vote and cast a dissenting vote.
The ruling party had attempted to block the vote by initiating an ‘unlimited debate’ (filibuster) to prevent the vote when Speaker Woo Won-shik raised the special prosecutor law on the 3rd. However, based on Article 106 of the National Assembly Act, which allows a filibuster to be forcibly terminated with over two-thirds of present lawmakers (180 members) in favor after 24 hours of debate, the opposition parties ended the filibuster through a vote on this day.
Introduced as the first legislation of the 22nd National Assembly by the Democratic Party, the Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Law aims to uncover the truth behind the Chae Sang-byeong’s death during search operations at a disaster site on July 19 last year, and investigate allegations of external pressure on investigations from the Presidential Office and Ministry of National Defense.